Unbreakable
by hfan02
Summary: One late evening, Hermione encounters a suffering Severus Snape while he returns from his encounter with the Dark Lord. What follows as a consequence, you'll have to find out. Set during the trio's sixth year at Hogwarts. Bad at summaries! Multi chapter. Will eventually lead to romance?


New story. Let me know what you think. :D

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At the edge of the Dark Forest, a small light suddenly appeared and disappeared just as fast. Instead of the usual elegant appearance, Severus Snape fell down on the wet ground with a loud humph and he remained there for a couple of minutes, recomposing himself. He had spent the last two hours under the Dark Lord's most persistent and violent scrutiny, never letting his guard down. Doing so would have put a stop to everything: the imminent war, the Order of Phoenix, his time as a double agent, Hogwarts. The Dark Lord would have taken advantage of every piece of information he could have gotten out of Severus' mind and used it in his advantage.

At times, he wished he could bring himself to let go, to finally put a stop to all his suffering. He would just have to open his mind for a split second and all will be lost. All those years working for Dumbledore would have been in vain.

He let out a small snort while he tried to get up and he immediately broke down in coughing. All those times being thrown on the hard floor took a toll on the man. It was only after a couple more minutes that he was finally able to get up properly.

It was late in the evening and it was dark, but Severus knew the way to the familiar dungeon by heart. Halfway to the castle, he was surprised when he looked up by mistake and saw the starry sky. He had spent most of his life looking down, eyes glued to the floor. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen such a sight. In that moment, the dungeon seemed like the coldest and loneliest place he could be in so he stopped and lingered a few more minutes. Severus knew that the moment he stepped inside the castle, the headmaster will know and wait for his report, but that was the last thing he needed at the moment.

After one last look towards the starriest sky, he started to head back once more. Just before he reached the castle entrance, he started to feel more and more pain coming from everywhere. His senses were starting to return to him after he had tried to push everything away in order to better handle the Dark Lord's incursions into his mind and violent attacks. Now, his legs were threatening to give in with every step, the pain in his back and ribs made it even more difficult for him to go forward, and on top of that, his head was screaming in pain.

This wasn't the first time Severus returned to the castle in such a state after one of his meetings with the Dark Lord. Usually, most of their meetings would somehow end up with him on the floor, wincing in pain. This time, though, Voldemort's curses hit him harder and for a longer period of time. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was bored, since most of the Death Eaters were away on missions and the only one that remained to entertain him were a few of the lowest ranked members.

Slowly, but surely, Severus almost reached the corridor that lead to his chambers. He was about to take the last turn, when something stopped him in his tracks. He felt something go past him, slowly caressing his shoulder in the process. As a reflex, he quickly reached forward and took hold of a handful of fabric. He pulled his hand fast towards his chest and almost couldn't believe his eyes as the person underneath that Invisibility Cloak turned to face him.

In front of him stood a bushy-haired girl, arms carrying three large books that must have been stolen from the library's forbidden section by the look of them. She looked absolutely livid, of course, she wasn't expecting company, especially this.

Severus tried to regain his composure, looking as threatening as usual in his black attire. "Miss Granger," he started, but stopped when he noticed how broke his voice sounded.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I know it's late, but I needed some extra information for one of the essays I'm writing for -" she started, but the professor interrupted her by lazily raising his hand.

"I don't want to hear it." He told her now on his usual tone. "There is no excuse for sneaking out this late after curfew and breaking into the forbidden section to steal books. With an Invisibility Cloak on top of everything!" Snape almost shouted.

Hermione involuntarily took a step back and it didn't go unnoticed by the professor. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "This is confiscated" he then told her as he raised the hand he was holding the cloak with. "And come find me tomorrow at noon to talk about your retribution." He told her as he stormed off, cloak billowing into the darkness. "Ten points from Gryffindor!" he spat into the dark corridor.

Hermione was still holding the books she retrieved from the forbidden section when she reached her dorm. She put them on the small table in the common room and she sat on the sofa, looking into the fire. She had lied, of course. With the books she retrieved, she hoped she would manage to shed some light on the situation regarding Harry's new possession. That book he found at the beginning of the term concerned her to no end. It wasn't because it helped the boy get higher grades, she was happy for him, but cheating like that was not the right answer. The most concerning reason was the fact that the "Half Blood Prince" scribbled some dark and twisted spells as well there, besides the helpful notes. She hoped she would find out who the Prince was and what was he trying to achieve through those notes and spells.

The girl sighed as she stared into the fire. She was kicking herself for losing Harry's Cloak and losing points and for the fact that she'll have to do Merlin knows what as a punishment on top of that. But besides all these, what tormented Hermione the most was the sight she stumbled upon just before she was caught.

Snape was visibly in pain. He was limping and wincing with every step. He had mud on his clothes and he looked like he had seen much better days. Also, the fact that he had not insisted on tormenting her or even confiscating the books was concerning as well. Something must have happened while he was away. She saw him get up from the dinner table and storm out a few hours earlier, but did not jump to any conclusions then. After their encounter, though, she was sure that the one responsible for the professor's state is none other than the Dark Lord himself.

Hermione shivered at the thought. She couldn't imagine what it was like to even be in the same room with the evil maniac, yet alone confronting him. She knew that Snape was on their side, she had seen him many times at Grimaud Place, meeting the Order. The fact that the Dark Lord didn't figure it out yet said a lot about the man's Occlumency abilities. A dark thought then crossed Hermione's mind. What if the ones that were fooled were them after all? But that idea seemed preposterous, Snape has helped them a lot over the years.

Severus closed the door hard behind him. As soon as he stepped foot in his private chambers, he let go of the façade he had imposed in front of the witch. A wave a relief washed upon him as he let himself fall on the couch in front of the fire, but immediately regretted it. The impact, be it soft as it was, almost brought tears of pain in his eyes. He rested his head and he closed his eyes. Even the poor light in the room brought him pain.

In the minutes that passed, he thought of nothing. He used his Occlumency skill to push everything away behind a dense and invisible barrier. And then, he felt nothing. Was he really in pain? For a moment, he had no sense of his surroundings. Behind his closed eyelids it was only darkness. The only thing that felt solid and sure was the soft material he still held on. Severus opened his eyes and everything came back to him. Hermione Granger had sneaked out long after curfew using an Invisibility Cloak and stole three books from the Forbidden Section, books that he did not think of retrieving.

Snape inspected the strange material in his hands. How did the girl come upon such an object? There were but a few in total in the Wizarding world. The last time he had seen such a thing was when he was a student himself. He had followed Potter and Black through the castle to see what they were up to again, and at some point they stopped, got out a long, what seemed like a Hogwarts uniform dark robe and then, after they both went under it, they disappeared. He was too surprised and angry to move. If they were in possession of such device, it meant that they were able to do anything outside of the school regulations. Of course, Severus went straight to Dumbledore and told the tale, but the old wizard wasn't too impressed or affected by the news.

Severus sighed and threw the cloak on the table in front of him. He was now sure how the girl got hold of such thing. It's Potter's legacy and they've been using it to break the rules just like their predecessors had done.

The wizard got up from the couch slowly, some of the pain coming back to him, and crossed the room. He stopped just in front of his medicine cabinet and opened it. He retrieved the last phial of Calming Draught made a mental note to prepare more as soon as possible. As he drank the contents of the small phial, the fire in his fireplace started to turn green and quickly after, the headmaster stepped into the room.

"Severus, my dear boy," he started, but Severus quickly turned his back on him and placed the phial back. The truth was, he had little patience for these kinds of visits. "I heard news of your return and I was hoping we could have a chat." The older wizard continued.

"Please," Severus snorted, "you know I do not have the patience for small talk. Just tell me what you want."

"You know why I came here, Severus. We agreed that you would report to me immediately after each and every one of your encounters with the Dark Lord. I am merely here to help you accomplish that agreement." Dumbledore told him calmly as he reached into his robe and retrieved a small container. "Lemon drop?" he offered kindly.

Severus shook his head as the Headmaster popped one of them into his mouth. "The Dark Lord was just bored I expect." He started, "Most of his followers are on a mission to gather more supporters, and that leaves me, together with some lower ranked followers, alone with him. It was just the usual, he searched for something with Legilimens, but then started throwing curses for a long while."

"I see." The Headmaster spoke. "Are you unwell?" He asked, but it was clear, that he was not thinking of Severus' well-being. He was distracted, something Snape said threw him in a pensive state.

"I am perfectly fine." Severus lied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things to take care of." He told him, hoping the older man would just take the hint and leave. He wasn't in the mood for company.

"Of course." Dumbledore agreed and reached the fireplace. He was just about to step back through it when Severus stopped him.

"Oh, and Headmaster?" Snape lifted the magical cloak with two fingers. "I just retrieved this Invisibility Cloak from Miss Granger. Any ideas how she could have come upon such a device?"

Dumbledore hesitated for a second. "No idea. But I trust you will use it well, my boy" he told him with a spark in the corner of his eye and then stepped into the fire.


End file.
